According to Neil Druckmann, Naughty Dog is four years into development of its next game. As a longtime fan of the studio, that’s exciting. Since I started playing its games with Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune in 2007, seeing that red paw print has become a sure sign that I’m in for something special. The best part, though? This time around, no one knows what Naughty Dog is making.
The Stagnation Of Naughty Dog As A Developer
Original ideas are rare in triple-A gaming, which is why it’s been disheartening, but not surprising, to see Naughty Dog follow a similar path. The House That Crash Built hasn’t gone three decades without introducing new IP, but it’s on its second console generation without an original game. It spent the PS3 era making Uncharted and The Last of Us, then spent the PS4 era making more Uncharted and The Last of Us, and, so far, the PS5 generation has been spent re-releasing those Uncharted and The Last of Us games.
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Naughty Dog used to introduce at least one new franchise every generation (Crash for the PS1, Jak and Daxter for the PS2, Uncharted and The Last of Us for the PS3), so doubling down on the same games for this long has been unusual.
When Bethesda was promoting Starfield, it hyped the space RPG up as the company’s first new IP in nearly 30 years. Since it picked up Fallout with the third entry, it hadn’t originated a series since 1994’s The Elder Scrolls: Arena.
So, it’s encouraging that no one seems to know what Naughty Dog is making next. As James Troughton noted in a recent article, all we really know about Naughty Dog’s next game is that it isn’t The Last of Us Part 3, which is coming later. There were rumors that Naughty Dog was working on a fantasy game, too. But as Troughton points out, Druckmann is rumored to not be involved with the fantasy game, which would rule it out. So, if this isn’t The Last of Us Part 3 and isn’t a fantasy game. What else could it be?
Whatever Comes Next, It’s Probably Something New
I don’t know! You don’t know either! That’s the cool part. After 17 years of Uncharted and 11 years of The Last of Us, Naughty Dog is doing something else. At this point, it’s difficult to imagine it returning to any of its previous properties besides The Last of Us. Uncharted 4 wrapped up Nathan Drake’s story. The Last of Us began, in the first place, as Druckmann and Bruce Straley’s attempt to make a new Jak and Daxter game. It seems unlikely Druckmann would make the same attempt twice.
Though developers at Naughty Dog are likely passionate about those earlier franchises, it’s tough to see the studio committing wholeheartedly to a new Jak game — especially when Sony’s narrative-driven third-person business model is built around Naughty Dog’s hyper-realistic style. Crash Bandicoot is owned by Activision Blizzard now, so ND won’t be returning to that anytime soon, either. And, though there’s precedent for a developer returning to a series they made before their breakout hit, it seems unlikely that Naughty Dog will go all the way back to Rings of Power or Keef the Thief.
There’s no easy answer here. Naughty Dog probably isn’t returning to one of its franchises and it probably is doing something entirely original. We won’t know what that looks like until Sony decides to unveil it at a State of Play or summer showcase. That uncertainty could be uncomfortable. As a Naughty Dog fan, I like the things they’ve made before and would like to play more. But embracing the new is how we find new things to love. Naughty Dog isn’t making The Last of Us Part 3 anytime soon. But, if it had never struck out to do new things, it wouldn’t have made The Last of Us either.
